Kregor raised an eyebrow, "Hmmm.. Well that's a suggestion.." 'Damnit he's gone space-crazy... We're good but... Hah! Mind you I've infiltrated the imperial palace on Coruscant, I've duelled Darth Vader, I've been through a time-hole... Still who wants to live forever?'

Kregor eased around on his yoke and hit the comm, "Rissk, get a move on and get that freighter out of here - beam me your co-ords once you're set to go... If I'm still alive that is..." An evil grin grew on Kregors face as he finished the sentence.

Rissk screamed down the comm at him, "What the frell?! Where are YOU going?"

Kregor laughed manicly, "To hell and back.. See you in the afterlife!"

Rissk yelled down at the hatch in the floor, "Raynard, get a move on! Kregors gone nuts and decided to get himself killed!"

A muffled shout echoed from the ship, "I'm working on it! FRELL!" Raynard was buried in wires and tools, frantically replacing components and re-routing wiring.

Kregor weaved his way into the asteroid field, "Well Zior, it was nice meeting you... You've balls of durasteel - I'll give you that! I'm going to re-route all power to the shields. We can't hope to even dent the shields of that thing, so just shoot sparingly, to spook them and get them returning fire. Concentrate on modulating the shields, and if we're getting seriously battered - hit that, it'll re-route all available power to the shields instantly, our momentum will keep us moving."

The giant capital ship loomed in the distance, Kregor weaved aroound the tumbling asteroids, "Here goes nothing!" As he exited the asteroids he swept around towards the bridge tower and unleashed a short volley straight at the window. As Turbo Laser shots filled the sky Kregor weaved an eratic pattern around the ship, sweeping low, then curving up and swinging around the rear of the bridge tower. The ship rocked and warning lights started flashing after the first shot hit the ancient Firespray. When the second shot hit, the low shields alarm started beeping and some panels fizzed and sparked as some electronic components burned out.

"FRELL! ZIOR - HOW ARE WE DOING?!"

(OOC: Kregor and Rissk's ships are both heavily upgraded and are unusually powerful for their size. I'm just trying to portray te sheer futility of small craft attacking Star Destroyers. Also neither Rissk nor Kregor have any experience of attacking capital ships.)

"Fierfek, our shields are about to go Im giving them every ounce of power we could spare." He flipped some switches and punched in some commands switching as much power as possible to the shields. "I got them to quarter power but I don't know how long that will last if we take another hit!"

Kregor battled with his yoke as all power to the thrusters vanished. For a few seconds the controls were not responding, the Crimson Blade simply drifting into the asteroid field. As engine power returned Kregor yanked hard on his yoke, barrel rolling the Firespray behind an asteroid, just as a turbo laser shot whizzed past where they were.

Another shot smacked into the asteroid, sending space debris and dust spiralling. Kregor breathed a sigh of relief, just as he was about to ask Zior how the shields were doing before making another run, co-ordinates blipped onto the holo-comm.

At nearly the same time, Rissk crackled over the comm, "Kregor, Raynards repaired the freighters navicomm and hyperdrive - we're leaving, rendevous at those co-ordinates."

"Right Zior - we're leaving!"

As Kregor exited the asteroids just in time to see Rissk's gunboat and the freighter blink into hyperspace. He punched in the new co-ords and initiated the hyperdrive. A few minutes later they emerged into real space. They were in deep space, there were no planets in sight, in fact nothing in sight, apart from a dozen Rebel craft, ranging from one man fighters, to freighters, up to frigates.

Aboard the freighter Scara was on the comm explaining their encounter and the strange ships that had become their escort. Clearance was granted and soon Rissk's modified gunboat, the Crimson Blade and the freighter were docked in the hangar of the largest frigate. It seemed that the group they'd made contact with was not the main Rebel fleet, who were presumably off fighting the Empire. When Rissk, Raynard, Kregor and Zior climbed out they were greeted with DL-22's pointed at them from every direction.

A brown robed man, of about Kregors age, but with long black hair addressed them, "Well, well, well... If it isn't the Jedi Hunter! I'm surprised you're not dead by now Kregor - if not through somebody taking revenge- simply through old age!"

Kregor scowled at him as he clambered out of his ship, "Hmmph! Well, I don't recall having the pleasure... Are we supposed to have met?"

The man smirked at this, "No, some of my friends met you a good while ago - they are dead now, killed by you."

Kregor straightened himself up, "I've killed a lot of people, I've changed though... I am no longer the Jedi Hunter. Nothing I could say would console you about the loss of your friends, if there's any way I can repay you..."

The man interrupted him, "Hmmph! There just might be... Do you remember Perem Thoje?"

Kregor shuddered, "Perem? Of course I remember him! He went to a firey death as far as I know!"

"Then you know wrong, Perem escaped the Dark Messiah as it burnt up in the atmosphere... Where he is or what he's doing, we don't know."

Rissk was getting agitated at this point and was about to say something, but Raynard sensed it and stopped her,"Keep calm, we should have known this sort of thing would happen, we're technically the enemy as far as history records show."

At that point a small Bothan entered the hangar, he looked at the group, his eyes wide and skipped over towards them, "What the frell? Where did these come from?"

The brown robed man turned to him, "Skim? Do you know any of these people?"

He peered at Rissk, his furry brow forrowing, "Hmm, I believe I do - that's Rissk - she took a bounty on me once... a long time ago..."

Skim shrugged, "Well, she took our spice, then another bounty hunter, a Jedi woman, she came after us, killed more than half the crew. I got captured and given to the hutts, and made a slave. Rissk, rescued me and gave me the Stormcrest II."

The man in the brown robes was scratching his head and frowning - this was a turn up for the books, he wandered up to Raynard and looked him up and down, "And who might you be?"

"I'm a fighter pilot." Zior said confidently knowing that everything else that had occured in his life really didn't concern this man. "What sre you? An imperial interrogator?" Zior wanted to aggervate this man, he had made accusations at people who just saved a ship full of his freinds. Kregor, Rissk, and Raynard didn't deserve this kind of treatment. "We save your friends and this is how you greet us? We could have died out there protecting your comrades. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I should be joining some pirate group if this is how the Rebels greet friends and allies."

"Friends and Allies? You really don't know who you keep company with! I am Trevelen Jykar, one of the few, few Jedi to have survived Order 66. I was very young at the time, and am not great in the ways of the force. I never even got to the stage of building myself a lightsabre."

He started pacing slowly, "These accusations are not accusations, but facts. We have to remain suspicious, despite the valiant rescue, according to Scara - Kregor and Rissk have always fought on the side of the Empire, Kregor accounted for more Jedi deaths than any other individual barring Darth Vader himself... Rissk has been on the Empire's preferred bounty hunter list for years, until recently she became wanted by the Empire."

Rissk stepped forwards and growled at him, "I only learned what the Empire was really about recently! I'm not immoral, I THOUGHT I was working on the side of law and order..."

Trevelen nodded sagely, "That's probably true, and Raynard, we don't know anything about apart from the attempt on the Imperial officers life and the subsequent jail term and escape."

Kregor threw his hands up in the air, "Check your contacts! I invaded the Imperial Palace recently and almost kileld Darth Vader himself!"

Trevelen smirked, "Hah! I doubt that! You may be skilled and courageous but don't make me laugh!"

Kregor shrugged at this, "So what are you going to do? We've brought you your damn weapons, and we were hoping to join your cause..."

"You may well do that yet, we will have to report your arrival and get a response from command on whether or not, or how much we are to trust you. Until then, you will stay aboard this ship as our... guests. We do appreciate your saving our crew and delivering our weapons, but we need to be 100% sure we trust you, and it's not some Imperial plot to infiltrate our organisation."

Kregor chortled at this, "Don't you think that if the Empire DID plan that, they might choose someone a bit less conspicuous?"

Trevelen smiled, "True... but you'll stay as our guests for now anyway, until we've had word from command. Your ships will be safe, I would suggest Skim here takes you up to the cantina on F Deck. Have a drink kick back - you're safe here and I'll certainly argue your case."

Skim was still looking stunned, he wandered up to the group and looked up to Rissk, "Come on, I think I owe you a drink... It's been a long time coming..."

Zior was aggervated and annoyed so he decided to butt in. "I'll come as well, I need a couple drinks." He followed the group off towards F deck where he would hopefully get a few glasses of good ale or juma juice and relax.

The cantina was smoky and dimly lit. Various aliens of different species were either standing at the bar or sitting in the booths. One wall contained portholes showing the starry sky beyond.

Skim, waved to the barman, another Bothan... Who seemed strangely familiar to Rissk. As Skim gestured for him to get everyone what they wanted on Skim's tab, Rissk eyed up the barman and racked her brains, "Hmmph! Palis isn't it?"

He looked at her startled, "You're damn right it is, who are... Oh wait, you watched me fight once?"

Rissk shrugged, "Twice actually, once on Coruscant and once on the Ampitheatre... Not fighting anymore?"

"No, I didn't carry on much longer than... Hey, the Zabrak! He's the guy who laid the smack down on all those fighters! Good grief, talk about small galaxy... People were talking about him for ages... Degrez was desperate to find him and sign him up."

Rissk grinned at this, "Degrez is dead."

Kregor growled, "Come on then get us a round of ales! I'm thirsty and this is turning out to be an annoying day!"

Zior finished his drink and aided Kregor in changing the subject. "I could do with another round myself." He smiled at the bartender and generally tried to look happy and uplifting. He looked at Rissk who frowned at him. "What, I'm not that ugly am I?"

Rissk shrugged, "Hmmph! No! I just can't see what you have to smile about - apart from the fact we have drinks in our hands - there doesn't seem to be a great deal to be happy about."

Kregor muttered under his breath, "Grrr, I should have guessed this was a bad idea - sorry Zior, your arriving at the Rebellion with us may yet be your undoing... And what about you Raynard! You're a dark horse, I thought you were just an engineer!"

Raynard reached across the bar and took his drink from Palis, "Well, I've been alot of things... Surely you have been more than 'the Jedi Hunter'"

Kregor lowered his eyes silently, embaressed at this, it was actually a little too near the truth...

Skim supped his drink and eyed up Rissk, "So what did you do after the Stormcrest incident?"

Rissk shrugged, "More of the same, I was bounty hunting for the Empire until I was taking in a Jedi named Drenarb - Met him in a Cantina on Tatooine, he changed my mind about the Empire... That was when Kaxson took a bounty on me! Bloody strange girl - I'll never work HER out!"

Raynard noticed Zior following the conversation zipping from one to the other, each person being very vocal and quite heated, he raised an eyebrow at Zior, "Hey, sorry about all this... I guess we all have a lot of history eh? I think we should take our drinks and move over to a booth until Trevelan comes back... What do you say?"

"Whatever you guys want to do, I'm really just along for the ride here." He said with a smug smile taking another sip of his drink. He wished he had stroies about grand adventures across the galaxy saving lives and the like but so far there was nothing that had happened in his life until now worth mentioning.

The group wearily lifted their drinks and retired to a booth in the corner. Skim followed them, bringing his drink. After they had seated Skim stuttered, "Look I'm sorry about the seeming unfriendliness here... Trevelan is just... Being cautious, it wouldn't be the first time we've had attempted infiltrators - If it's any consolation I don't think for a second you're anything to do with the Empire."

Rissk smirked at this, "Hmmph! Very kind of you to say - pity you're not more senior than Trevelan... Hmmm, what happened to YOU after the Stormcrest incident anyway? Are the other four alright?"

Skim smiled at this, "Joffie, Jyma, Marsy and.... Freila, yes they're fine... We refurbished the ship with parts off the Stormcrest, started running our courier service again - but we kept things low profile and didn't work for the Hutts again. Eventually we ran into some people from the Rebellion and they convinced us to join the cause. Y'know when my father was running courier on the first Stormcrest, he never had to do anything illegal, he could make a fair living and pay all the family members through normal business, the Empire started taxing business so hard we could not continue to run that way and had to start doing more lucrative but untaxed illegal missions."

Rissk rolled her eyes at him, "Yes, yes - I'm sure I've heard that story before... Well you can give the others my regards when you see them."

She chugged her drink as Skim frowned, "Erm, we had some kids too Mica and Annaro - they're here onboard the frigate..."

Rissk nodded, "Really? Good for you... Can't see me ever starting a family, hmmph! Not when most of the people I've ever met have tried to capture me, kill me or worse... Hah! In Kaxson's case several times!"

Skim rubbed his chin, "The Jedi Bounty Hunter? What is she up to now? Hmmph! She killed most of my family... I don't think I can ever forgive her that..."

Rissk smirked, "She's some sort of Imperial officer now, last time I spoke to her she was insisting I surrender - then she tried to shoot me down!"

Kregor had been listening to this exchange with interest, he interrupted, "Hey, we don't know what's happened to Ariane, one thing I know about Ariane, is whatever she does, no matter how insane - she tends to do things for a reason."

Raynard was supping his drink silently, also listening to the ongoing debate about where Ariane Kaxsons loyalties lied and what her motives were. He turned to Zior and rolled his eyes, "I don't understand most of this either you know? I met her once, repaired her Corvette actually, and her YT1300 and her Astromech... I just hope this Trevelan turns up soon with some good news..."

As he spoke, Trevelan entered the cantina. He didn't have an escort this time and looked relaxed. He approached their table, "I've spoken with Master Skywalker and explained to him your circumstances. He is adamant that you should be given a chance to join the rebellion, regardless of your shady pasts. However he is also adamant that you should serve with this small flotilla, of which I am in charge. We rarely have contact with the main rebel fleet, we are a somewhat rag-tag group, who's mission is to consistently harrass the Empire, attacking their production facilities, science stations, supply ships... The casualty rate is highest amongst our number anywhere in the rebellion, a lot of the time our actions are diversionary and they allow the main fleet to make more decisive attacks... We are called 'Wraith Squadron' we mainly fly Z-95 Headhunters, which are typically not equipped with hyperdrive engines, though our fleet are all the famed tactician Adar Tallon's Z-95t - which features a class 3 hyperdrive, and increased maneuverability. Or fleet is old and damaged, but he command cannot afford to provide us with better ships, so we make do the best we can. For now, enjoy your evening's Skim will find you some quarters and tomorrow we'll show you our ships, any questions?"

Raynard chugged his drinks, "Trevelan, I used to fly combatively as a smuggler and bounty hunter - but that was a long time ago... I might be more useful repairing and upgrading the fighters..."

Trevelan pondered this for a moment, "Hmmm, that may be the case, the engineers we have do their best, but they are doing more maintenance than improvement... But you should do the training anyway, we have simulators for training, which you'll all have to test in before we issue you a ship anyway. If it comes back to you and you do well, we'll offer you a ship - otherwise your assistance in the hangar will be very appreciated."

Rissk and Kregor were looking uncomfortably at each other at this point, Rissk broached the question first, "Hmmph! What about OUR ships? We're used to them! They're probably far better than your old rust buckests anyway, why can't we fly those?!"

Kregor nodded, " It's true, we've spent alot on our ships over the years and they're damn good ships!"

Trevelan nodded sagely, but looked rather hurt, "It's true our ships are old and aren't likely to be as heavily upgraded as your own. However your desire to fly your own ships into battle shows a lack of experience flying in a squadron, you are used to flying solo against single or multiple small numbers of opponents, we're going to be flying in attacking things, and we're going to have a much greater number of enemies to deal with. Having obviously more powerful ships than your wingmen may be actually more likely to get you killed, the encounter with the freighter? You had to deal with Gunboats and Tie's? Which did you go for first? What model were the last ships you destroyed?"

It was true, they had focused on the gunboats and in fact, it was possible some Tie's may have made it back to their Stardestroyer. Kregor and Rissk nodded, Kregor spoke, "Alright we'll fly your simulators and do your training."

Trevelan smiled, "Good, in that case I'll bid you all good night, I have a lot to do tomorrow and need an early start, unless there are any more questions?"

Zior looked around seeing if anyone had a question. "Nope, I guess that's it for tonight then." He got up and downed the rest of his drink setting it back on the table afterward. Finally he would get to prove his worth as a fighter pilot, finally he would have his shot at revenge.

Skim led the four through dimly lit, industrial looking corridors. The frigate was obviously a military vessel and it showed in it's design and condition. Eventually they arrived at a small hatchwith a dim light above it, Skim hit the door activator, and the door crankily slid open.

Skim gestured into the room, "All the accomodation is for two or more people, sorry about the state of the place, these quarters haven't been used for a while, I can get some fresh sheets and such sent up though."

The room was small and rather remniscent of a prison cell, there were no portholes, two bunks along one wall, a small desk in one corner with a holonet terminal and a door into an ensuite shower and toilet. Functional, but simple.

Rissk peered in and grimaced, "Hmmph! No portholes!? Typical! Well, we'll take this one, and get some fresh sheets sent up... Hmmm, I'll have to go back to my ship too to pick up some of my stuff... Hey will our ships be okay?"

Skim nodded as Rissk barged past him into the room dragging Raynard by the hand behind her, "The rebellion has a special part of the ship for storing it's members private vessels, you've no need to worry there. This ship doesn't get into combat anyhow, it's only the accomodation and mobile command centre for the group."

As he entered the room Raynard turned to Skim, "So do you fly sorties too?"

Skim shrugged, "Sort of, I mainly do supply runs in the Stormcrest II, I am in the reservists though - so if the command centre comes under attack I fly a Headhunter. We have some standard, non-hyperdrive Z-95's that are kept specifically for defence."

Raynard nodded and walked over to the holonet terminal, when he tried to turn it on though it fizzled a little, then popped and went blank, "Hmmm, well looks like I have something to keep me occupied for a bit then, we'll go back to the ship and pick up Rissk's stuff and my tools."

Skim led Kregor and Zior to the next door along, the light was broken above this one, but when the door slid open the room was an exact copy in a similar state. Kregor wandered in, seeming less phased by than Rissk, but then the Firespray Class Patrol ship was not lavish in it's sleeping quarters and was very cramped. He had a quick glance into the en-suite and turned to Skim, "This is great thanks, if you cold get us some fresh sheets sent up though..."

Skim nodded and disappeared down the corridor, Kregor eyed the bunks, "Hmmm, well Zior - top or bottom? I might have a quick glance at the holonet before we settle down if it's okay..."

With that he flicked the holonet on and sat on the edge of the bottom bunk, the image was crackly and poor, but he managed to follow it anyway. Zior was still standing, so Kregor gestured to him, "You okay Zior? Do you have much combat experience? I didn't really pick up on how long you'd been flying... I shouldn't worry though - I'm sure we'll get plenty of time in the simulator before we have to fly combat missions...."

" I actually have almost no experience flying except for what I've seen you doing." He smiled as he got up onto the top bunk, and started to pray he never got drunk enough to roll around when he slept. "Like you said though, that's probably not a problem with those simulators."

Kregor leaned back on his bunk and smacked his head into the pillow, "Hmmm, well you're shooting seemed pretty good... Anyone can learn to be a good pilot, to be a great pilot you have make a jump from thinking about what you are doing to feeling what you are doing... "

"I've never flown a simulator before, back when I learned to fly it was before the clone wars and there wasn't the technology or need for it... "

***

Raynard and Rissk had arrived back at their room by this point. Rissk silently chugged a bottle of Ale while Raynard tinkered with the broken holonet. It was nice to feel safe again, a feeling she'd not felt in a lifetime...

It was also strangely nice to be with Kregor again, despite what he'd done, he still sort of felt like family... As did Raynard of course...

She knocked her bottle back and growled at Raynard, "Grrr, I'm tired - stop mucking about with that thing and go to sleep - I want the lights off! Hmmph!"

Zior laid down in his bunk and closed his eyes, he was ready to sleep. "Well if my opinion counts for much I say that your a great pilot from what I've seen, I'll fly with you anyday." He drifted off into sleep, his dreams revolved around dogfighting with imperial TIEs and bombing imperial slave camps in the seat of an X-Wing.

The four enjoyed an uninterrupted nights sleep. In the morning, an alarm started beeping softly in the early hours. Rissk got up first, "Hmmph! Come on Ray get up - I wonder if there'll be breakfast laid on?"

Raynard rolled out of his bunk and pulled his shirt back on, "Hmmm, I would have thought so - lets get Kregor and Zior up and go down to the mess hall, see what they've got."

A few moments later Rissk was banging with her fist on Kregor and Zior's door screaming, "Come on lazy people get up!"

Kregor rolled grumbling out of his bunk and screamed at the door, "Alright! Alright you've woken us! Give me a minute! Grr... "

He stood up and looked into the mirror on the opposite wall, his bald head, his matted grey beard and his time worn face looking back at him tiredly, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned, "Come on Zior - lets go see if theres some food on offer!"

The four trudged wearily through the narrow, dimly lit corridors. They eventually found their way to the mess hall, a wide, low cieling height room with benches and tables across the middle. Aliens of every species, and humans lined the tables, some wore flight suits, others didn't. The food was being distributed from a buffett over a counter at one side of the room. The scene rather reminded Raynard of his days on the Penal Colony, he hoped the food would be better.

Raynard led the way up to the counter and grabbed himself a tray, the metal sort with little compartments for different foods, he smiled at the Rodian behind the counter who proceeded to scoop a dollop of various colourful goops into the different containers. Rissk was pulling her face as the ladle dropped plop after colourful plop onto her tray, soon they had all taken their food silently and were seated at a bench spoons in hand.

Raynard was the first to tuck in, but Kregor was the first to comment, "Hmmm, y'know, considering how this stuff looks, it's really not bad!"

Rissk frowned at him, still fishing in the compartments with her spoon, trying to decipher the contents, "Hmmph Do you think it's safe?!" Raynard was munching happily, he smiled at Rissk, "Of course it's safe, they don't have the capacity to grow meat or vegetables on long term, space missions, so they make synth food. It tastes good, they just never got the aethetics right - it's got all the nutrition you need... I would eat up if I were you - we could have a long day ahead - hows you'rs Zior?"

The conversation did not attract attention, very few people cast a glance at the strange group of new friends, sitting eating - or in Rissk's case stirring their food.

Slowly the rest of the crew finished and left, leaving Rissk, Raynard, Kregor and Zior a little unsure of where to go or what to do next. Luckily, Trevelan appeared, and strode purposefully towards them, "Good morning, I trust you slept and ate well?"

Rissk forced a spoonful of the now cold concoction into her mouth and grimaced - conscious that she'd be hungry later otherwise, "Urrgh! Haven't you got any proper food?"

Trevelan smiled, "Unfortunately no, part of our mission directive means we can't easily stop to pick up supplies so we rely very heavily on synth food. Now you must all be eager to get started I imagine? Well, the first thing you need to do is make your way down to the deck above the hangar and see the quarter master. He'll outfit you each with a flightsuit that is compatible with our modified Z-95's. Then ask the quarter master to point you towards the training suit and we can see how you all do."

Rissk forced another mouthful down shuddering at the taste as she did so. Kregor slid his tray away and stood up, "Come on, lets go."

Trevelan had wandered off by this point. Raynard slid off his chair and gathered up the empty trays, as he was doing this, Rissk slid her now half empty tray towards him, deciding she'd had enough.

He waited a few moments for Zior to finish then took his tray, piled it on the others and deposited the stack on the counter.

The four travellers trudged wearily off towards the turbo lift, within a few minutes they'd found the quarter master. Kregor approached the desk, "Hi, Trevelan sent us for flight suits."

"Hmmm, one second - If you could all just spread out a bit i'll scan you all for size."

The four stepped apart while he ran a hand scanner over them.

"There all, done - just give me a second to find them out." A few moments later they were each handed a grey flight suit with a pair of black boots. Rissk picked up the boots and shook her head, "Grrr, I can't wear these! I don't wear foot wear - Trandoshans geneally don't!"

The man behind thr counter frowned, shrugged then took the boots back.

Kregor tucked his kit under his arm and addressed the quarter master again, "Which way to the training suit?"

The man pointed down the corridor," Take the turbo lift up two decks, turn right out of the lift and you can't miss it."

Quickly they paced down the corridor and into the lift, soon they were in the training suit. It was an impressive sight, a dozen cockpits all lined up, but with no ship attached. Trevelan was there to greet them, "My friends, if you could all change into your flight suits and take a cockpit - Regis here will be taking you through the training, I have explained your situations and experience and he's going to try and tailor the programme to get the bset out of you. Good luck."

At that point an aged, wisened looking man in a flight suit appeared, he had a short beard and a bald head, he stepped up to Kregor who was still at the head of the group, "Regis, I'm in charge of training - get suited up and I'll run through what we're doing - changing rooms are there."

Following where he pointed Kregor and company entered the changing rooms and exited wearing their flight suits. Regis waved them over to one of the cockpits that was open, "Now this here is an exact replica of the Z-95's you'll eventually be flying, everything works in the simulation exactly as it does in the ship - only difference is here, if your ship gets blown up the scren will proclaim you dead and the cockpit will open after a minute. This here is how you control pitch and yaw, this is the throttle, the indicator at the side tells you how much power is on the engines. This console here lets you alter the balance of energy between shields, weapons and engines, the green and blue lights and the symbol of the ship - they show what your current settings and sheild and energy levels are. This is your Radar, the computur will identify enemy vessels and warn you of them. Any questions?"

Kregor was nodding in agreement, Raynard looked at Zior who simply shrugged, Raynard patted Regis on the shoulder, "Regis, I think we'd better have a go now."

Regis nodded smiling, "Okay, jump into a cockpit, I've programmed in a scenario where we're going to be patrolling the space around our main capital ship - and we're going to be attacked by a squadron of TIE Fighters. We'll each have one computer controlled wingman, your objective is to stay alive and keep your wingman alive. See you in there."

Slowly they climbed into the cockpits and pulled the lids down, the display was frighteningly realistic. For intent purposes it felt exactly like they were in space, flying a Z-95. The hull of the capital ship loomed ahead and they tried a few manouvers to get the feel of the controls. Kregor was trying his controls when Rissk's voice crackled over the com, "These are pretty responsive aren't they!"

Kregor nodded and called back, "Yep, they're going to have to need to be though - shields are pitiful compared to the Blade and your gunboat."

Regis crackled over the comm, "You have ample shields for surving this sort of encounter, it's all down to your skill, team work and tactics... Oh - here they come!"

A dozen TIE fighters appeared, screaming into vision, cannons blazing - the group split off diving in seperate directions with their wingmen following loosely.

With a crash the old man smashed into the table and crumpled to the ground behind. Whimpering he curled himself into a protective ball and awaited his fate.

I'll ask you one more time, she ordered as she ploughed through the wreckage towards the cowering man,

"Where did they go?" She reached down and grabbed him by the arm, violently pulling him up from the ground he stood in front of her, a look of sheer panic and desperation on his face, "I am in no mood to be ripped off by you old man!" she pushed him down into the chair and fixed her uniform lowering her tone she addressed him again.

"I am a member of the imperial armed forces. If you know where these people went you will tell me or I will have you charged with assiting the rebellion and shipped to Kessel to work in the mines." She turned around to address the rest of the bar "If ANYONE knows where these people went you WILL tell us or I'll send everyone to KESSEL!"

She waited for a few moments, but there was no reply. She glanced around the room once more.

"Bloody rebel Sympathisers! TAKE THEM ALL!" she ordered.

The rest of the squad quickly moved to arrest everyone in the bar, panic quickly ensued. At the back of the bar two "customers" made a break for the back door but they were quickly cut down in a hail of carbine fire.

A member of the squad approached Ariane as she watched her squad cleaning up the rabble

"Sir!" the trooper reported snapping a salute, she returned his salute smartly,"We have received a communication from the Theoi. Captain Kheiron reports that vessels matching Kregor Faltis and Rissk's gunboat attacked some fighter squad 5 as they attacked a rebel transport!"

"Captain Kheiron reports that these ships attempted to attack the Theoi and freed the rebel transport that the gunboats were attempting to capture. The ships fled into hyperspace with the transport!"

"So...." she mussed, rubbing her chin thoughtfully "Kregor and Rissk have joined the rebels have they. Would never have expected Kregor to turn so easily!"

She turned to address the stormtrooper again. "Tell Captain Kheiron we are returning to the Theoi and that we are bringing prisoners. We can interogate them better there and we will find out where they went from here!"

Immediatly the squad rounded up everyone in the bar and prepared to leave the planet.

Zior was as close to living his dream as he ever had gotten in his life. Never before had he felt so alive and energetic. He looked to make sure his computerized wingman was following him as he flew to meet the virtual TIEs head on. He fired a few shots at two TIEs who were coming straight for him. They separated and the shots passed harmlessly between them.

Zior broke off and chased after one of the fighters. The TIE tried some evasive maneuvers from barrel rolls to Ingram’s and everything in between. Zior followed the AI's every move with skill he never knew he had. He let loose a few bursts of laserfire which skimmed the shields of the TIE. Zior waited until the TIE tried to make a break for his comrades to jump him. The TIE hit the brakes and Zior pulled up hard. He got out of the TIEs line of fire and made a full circle getting behind the TIE once again. The TIE was heading full speed for his comrades. Zior lined up his shot quickly and let loose a volley of shots that ripped through its shields and tore the TIE apart.

Another TIE dropped in behind him while he was distracted and fired into his rear shields. Warning lights went off and the computer notified Zior that his shields were about to fail. He made a hard break as he asked for aid. "Can I get little help here?"

Rissk was still familiarising herself with the light controls and the unexpected agility of the craft when the TIE's screamed into view. Rissk yanked on the stick and rolled sideways, almost colliding with her startled wingman.

Kregor and Raynard had broken off, wingmen in tow and were sweeping around the flank of the group, Zior had already started fierce dog fighting, he started out doing well, but Rissk saw another drop in behind him, just as he calld for help over the comm.

She pushed forwards on the stick, pulled up, just skimming over Zior's cockpit and opened up both guns, full power. The shots splashed into the TIE as a couple of it's shots smacked into Rissks ship, causing it to rock. As she rolled off, to avoid the craft, a shot hit the wing arm sending the wing and craft spiralling off in different directions.

Zior rejoined the fray, he got on the tail of an unlucky TIE who was pursueing a computer controlled Headhunter. He let loose a burst that ripped through the craft's shields and cut it in half. A grin rose to his face just before his cockpit shook as his rear shields took a volley of TIE fire. Zior banked hard to avoid the second volley that would surely end him and this exercize. The Tie followed in suit expecting an evasive manuver. What he did not expect was Zior to pull the throttle back and allow the TIE to pass him. Zior held the trigger in for a second and then peeled off away from the debries created by the explosion. It looked like the simulation was almost over.

Kregor and Raynard had outflanked the group of TIE's and they had managed to despatch the entire group completely unscathed. Regis voice crackled over the comm, "Okay, you've got the hang of it - let's up the difficulty a bit. I'm going to run a scenario whereby we're attacking an Imperial Frigate, you're objective is to protect the Y-Wings while they deliver their payload. We're going to be flying against Intercepters, Advanced and Gunboats... Starting simulation."

Their screens went black for a moment, then re-emerged, radar warnings were bleeping furiously. In the distance they could see the Frigate, fighters swarming out of it's hangar. Rissk glanced across at the group of Y-wings they were escorting. Kregor's voice crackled over the comm, "Here they come!"

The Interceptors engines were screaming, as the craft jinked left and right firing wildly. Kregor's, Raynards and Rissk's ships rocked from the impact, then they broke away, looking for a target.

Raynard found his target first, an Interceptor, falling in behind he desperately tried to match speed, but the Imperial Craft had much greater performance. Fighting with his yolk he unleashed a volley of shots, each one being deftly avoided by the computer TIE Pilot. Rissk meanwhile saw a small group bearing down on the lead Y-wing. Slamming her throttle forwards she screamed into the group from the side, guns blazing The lead TIE burst into flames and the other two were knocked violently off course.

Kregor at this point was under heavy fire, jinking left and right he'd put al his shields on the rear as three TIE's were simultaneously chasing him and firing on him. Watching his shield meter creep down he screamed into the comm, "A little help here someone?!"

Zior heard Kregor over the comm. He broke off from the dogfight he was in and headed straight for Kregor. "Kregor stay on your current course and hang on. Don't move or this isn't going to work." He was almost on a crash course with him, as the two fighters closed Zior's heart pounded faster and faster. Just before the disastorous impact Zior pulled up and flipped his Headhunter over so he passed Kregor canopy to canopy.

Zior opened fire on Kregor's pursuers scoring kills on two of them before the final one broke off. Zior let him go, he had bigger fish to fry. A gunship was advancing on the Y-Wing formation. Zior punched a series of commands to his computeriezed wingman and headed in for the gunboat. His wingman went in first drawing the gunboat's fire and weakening its shields with a sustained burst of fire. Zior came in behind him and fired two concussion missiles into the engines of the gunship crippling it in space. He then went on to fire a burst of laser fire into the shield generator further making the ship an easy target. "Got a gunboat here that needs a finishing run."

As Zior's voice crackled over the line, Rissk's Z-95 screamed into view cannons blazing and the gunboat errupted into flame. The first wave of fighters destroyed another wave dropped in, lasers firing. The freighter was looming closer now.

Kregor dived straight into the fray, his wingman following, Rissk saw his approach and swung out, trying to outflank the TIE's. Raynard, headed straight for the group of interceptors cannons blazing, as they took evasiv action Rissk and Kregor launched volley after volley itnot he breaking fighters.

The door to her quarters hissed open before her. She trudged in the door and dropped her flight back on the bed. With a sigh she dropped onto the bed and buried her head in her hands.

She rose from her position and entered the bathroom, turning on the shower she started to disrobe as she retured to the main bedroom. She re-entered the bedroom and retrieved a towel from her cabinet and turned to return to the bathroom, as she did the comm on the wall beeped.

She pressed the button on the wall as she answered

"Kheiron here, go ahead!" she snapped.

The voice at the far end was captain Screed, he was in charge of the cells on board the Theoi.

"Commander, your prisoners are in cells and we are starting to question them now!" he paused for a moment before continuing, "And Captain Kheiron has ordered you report to his quarters immediatly!"

"Understood!" she replied, closing the com line, She pulled the zip backup on her flight suit and quickly entered the bathroom to turn off the shower. Then she exited her quarters and headed to the bridge.

"Just like the last one, I'll take out their shields and you finish em up." Zior hit the controls and headed for the two gunboats aimed at the Y-Wings. The fighter lurched side to side as the first gunboat spotted and opened fire. Zior rolled to his right missing a volley of enemy fire and fired two missiles into its shields followed up by a sustained burst from his cannons that dropped the gunships shields and scored some minor hull damage.

Zior's fighter flew over the gunship and he had a clear shot at the second now. His wingman came in from the rear of the gunship firing missiles. Zior joined in with his cannons which led to that gunboat's shields dropping as well. He pulled up on his conrtol yoke to get out of the return fire offered by the gunners of the gunboat.

Three hours? It had seemed like three minutes. Everything happened so fast. "Yeah I'm ready to pack it in." Zior slumped back in his cockpit and relaxed, every muscles was slightly sore. He hadn't even noticed how up tight he was during the simulation. He wondered what it would be like in the real thing.

Niko says:
were so lame
Kit_Fitsu says:
but awesome at the same time
Niko says:
its so contradictory
Magic Man says:
agreed on both acounts

As they exited the simulation cockpits Rissk growled at Regis, "Well, thanks for the training... Happy with our performance?"

Regis, still climbing from his cockpit shrugged softly, "I've still got to go through the computer readouts, it's of no doubt you can all fly and you can all be effective in combat sorties... I'm just not convinced your teamwork and tactics are at the level they could be. It strikes me you're used to flying more powerful ships than the opposition. You shouldn't need abetter ship to win though. TIE pilots go into combat with no shields, little armour, and they still often beat X-Wing pilots - why? Skill, tactics and the confidence to use them. Next time we'll simulate your ships and you can have a dogfight with some of our experienced pilots - you;ll see what I mean."

The group had now assembled, Kregor nodded at Regis, "We'll be off for now then - same time tomorrow? Come on - let's go get a drink!"

Rissk rolled her eyes, "Hmmph! About time! Come on Ray, Zior!"

They trecked through the ship to the onboard cantina they'd visited before, Kregor ordered a round of drinks and Skim who was sitting in a booth waved them over to join him, "Hey, how was the training? Everything okay so far?"

Rissk scowled, "Hmmph! Can't see why we can't fly our own ships!"

Raynard supped his drink and leaned back on the padded bench of the booth, it had been an interesting day...

Zior slumped into the seat and took a long sip of his brew. "That was quite a workout, I can't wait for the real thing." He said smiling realizing how close his dream really was now. His glee was barely containable, despite his exhaustion from the simulation.

Niko says:
were so lame
Kit_Fitsu says:
but awesome at the same time
Niko says:
its so contradictory
Magic Man says:
agreed on both acounts

Raynard, Rissk and Kregor sat in near silence, occasionally supping their drinks, whie thinking about the experience in the simulator. It was a strange feeling, fighting for a cause, they'd all grown to hate the Empire for different reasons. At the same time they were all conscious that joining the Rebellion wasn't an entirely unselfish act.

Their notoriety meant that moving freely about the galaxy would not be possible. Being part of the Rebellion probably actually enhanced their chances of survival.

Raynard slurped his drink and leaned back in the booth, "Hmmm, interesting flying sorties again... I have to say I'm more looking forward to getting down the engineering department though."

Kregor scowled, "To each his own! Give me a blaster over a hydro-spanner any day!"

Rissk supped her drink and pulled out the slim cylinder that was her broken lightsabre from her robe. "I wonder if Trevelen can fix this for me?"

Kregor chortled softly, "I doubt it, he said he'd never even built one!"

"No harm in asking I suppose." Raynard chirped in.

Rissk shrugged softly and finished her drink, "I'm going to see if I can find him."

Rising to her feet she left the booth and headed towards the command centre where Trevelen was likely to be.

"Do you think this ship has physical exercise facilities? A good workout will help me loosen up and keep in shape." Zior suggested to the others as he sipped his drink again, leaning back into the comfortable cushion of the booth seat.

Niko says:
were so lame
Kit_Fitsu says:
but awesome at the same time
Niko says:
its so contradictory
Magic Man says:
agreed on both acounts

Kregor pondered for a moment, "Hmmm, it's likely I suppose... A large fringe fleet like this must have a good balance of facilities, they don't dock. We should ask the Bothan, Skim... Can you see him around?"

Raynard nodded and pointed to a booth just across the room, "There he is."

Kregor waved over at Skim to get his attention, who soon wandered over.

"Skim isn't it? Zior here was wondering if there were exercise facilities aboard this craft?"

Skim smirked, "Oh yeah, we've got a well equipped gym and a running track... Or at least it was well equipped when the ship was new... I don't know if much of the stuff there still works to be honest. It's near the bow on Zeta Deck if you want to check it out."

Raynard frowned at Kregor, "Well I think I have had enough exercise for one day - I need to fix the holo-net terminal in our room, see you later?"

With that Raynard stood and walked out of the Cantina leaving Kregor alone with Zior. Kregor washed his drink back, "You ready Zior? Shall we go see what's left of this 'gym'?"

***

Rissk met Trevelen in the corridor on the way to command centre,"Hmmph! There you are! "

Trevelen frowned at her, "Hmmm, indeed... I hear the simulator training went well... What can I do for you?"

Rissk pulled out her lightsabre and showed it to Trevelen, his eyes lit up at the sight of it. "Hmmm, I wondered if you could look at my laser sword and see if you oculd fix it...."

"Laser sword!? That my Trandoshan friend is a lightsabre."

"Whatever... Do you think you can fix it?"

Trevelen eyed her suspiciously, "You're no Jedi - where did you get it?"

Rissk rolled her eyes impatiently, "I've had it over ten years, it got damaged by electro-magnetic interference a few days weeks ago when I flew into an invisible anomaly. If you must know I saw some Storm Troopers back on Coruscant kill it's previous owner - I killed them with a thermal detonator and took it..."

Trevelen appeared to ponder this, "Hmmm, you seem genuine... And at least his death was avenged... Actually - this could help me out too. I have all the working parts to make light sabres and several unfinished experiments, if this one once worked I can maybe copy it to sort out my own attempts, then use my spare parts to repair yours?"

Rissk shrugged, "Whatever... It's a useful thing to have... I can't imagine being able to fight very effectively with it though..."

Trevelen took the sabre in his hand and smiled, "I'll do my best, for you and for the former owner."

Rissk rolled her eyes at him and started making to leave, "Yeah, thanks Trevelen."

Trevelen weighed the sabre in his hand, and pondered he felt something... He sensed a strong connection to the force.

Rissk didn't pause though, she was already charging back down the corridor to the cantina.

When Kregor eventually made it through the crumbling interior of the ship he was met with dissapointment. The equipment in the gym was ancient, broken or both. He looked around at the tatty, rusty machines and shook his head, "Well, Zior, looks like this place hasn't seen much use lately... I don't know if there's anything here that works! What did you want to use?"

Not waiting for an answer he proceded to the punch bags hanging near the back and tried a few experimental jabs and low kicks.

***

Raynard tinkered with the holo-net and was soon sitting back on his bunk watching the tiny screen. Reception wasn' t brilliant, but he was able to find out what was happening in the Galaxy at least.

***

When Rissk made it back to the Cantina she was somewhat startled to see her companions were now missing. She took a seat at the bar and gestured towards the bartender, "Hey, Corellian Ale... Did you see where the old human, the Falleen and the Zabrak went?"

The Bothan behind the bar shrugged, cracked open a bottle and handed it over, "They were talking to Skim, then they all dissappeared."

"Hmmph! Typical!"

She took a slug of her drink and stamped over to where Skim was sitting with some other Bothans, "Skim, do know where they've gone?" Skim looked up at Rissk, a warm look in his eyes, "Hey, Freila it's Rissk! I told she was here! Rissk, you remember Freila?"

Rissk eyed the Bothan Skim seemed to be referring to, and squinted, "Hmmph! Not really - have you seen them then?"

Skim looked hurt at this and Freila looked embarressed, "Well, they were talking about using the gym - I think the Zabrak went to his room."

Rissk rolled her eyes at the mention of the gym, "Great! Hmmph! I might as well head back then!"

Before Skim could utter another word Rissk had span on her heel and stormed off at break neck speed. Skim turned to Freila, "What is her problem?" Freila supped her drink and shrugged, "I don't know... Maybe she's just, 'not very nice'?"

Skim twiddled his glass in his fingers looking forlorn, "Gah! I wish I could pay her back for helping us..." Freila rolled her eyes this time, "We did pay her you nerf herder! In credits! We had to sell the head hunter remember?!"

Skim shook his head, "Well she gave us that ship too! she didn't have to do that."

"What else was she going to do with it? It probably saved her a lot of paperwork or something... Face it Skim, she was a mercenary and she's probably still would be if not for the fact that she's personally waged war on so many people the Rebellion is the last place that safe for her to be. Have you seen her bounty records? She's taken on every criminal organisation there is at some stage or other, even the Hutt's! She's even taken on the Empire itself - Doesn't make her bad mind... just very , very practical and focused on self-preservation."

Skim pondered this and rubbed his chin, "Hmmm, maybe... I still wish there was something we could do..."

(OOC: Flesh out your next post a bit - try and push time forwards until the end of the night.)

"Anything really." Zior commented walked around trying to find a cleared away area. When he did he got on all fours and did a set of pushups. "Feels good to work out again." He said sitting up. "I can't wait till I'm sitting in the cockpit of my very own fighter duking it out with the best the empire can offer." Zior flashed a toothy reptilian grin before getting back on all fours and pushing out another set with renewed vigor. "How about you? You feeling the itch to have a control yoke in your hands and finger on the trigger?"

Niko says:
were so lame
Kit_Fitsu says:
but awesome at the same time
Niko says:
its so contradictory
Magic Man says:
agreed on both acounts